Africa

Benin in West Africa is trying to forge ties with the African diaspora and boost tourism.

Four-year-old Ma July Phyo sits in a makeshift shelter in Mandalay with her mother, Ma Khin Phyo Kai, on April 2, 2025, five days after the deadly earthquake that struck Myanmar. Despite a ceasefire announced after the earthquake, the Tatmadaw continued its aerial attacks on local villages in its fight against armed resistance groups across the country, which continues to have deadly consequences for civilians. Credit: Maung Nyan/UNICEF

By Naomi Myint Breuer
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 29 2025 (IPS)

In Myanmar, airstrikes occur almost daily. The phenomenon has become common since civil war broke out following the 2021 military coup that replaced the democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) with the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s military. Several human rights organizations report that these airstrikes are disproportionately targeting civilians and harming lives.

The Tatmadaw uses airstrikes to fight armed resistance groups, such as the People’s Defense Forces (PDF), and regain control of areas from these groups, who control about 42 percent of the country’s territory, according to a BBC investigation published December 19, 2024.

After the March 28 earthquake, the Myanmar military and other groups involved declared a ceasefire, but attacks continued. Myanmar Witness reported 80 airstrikes occurred between March 28 and April 24, including in emergency-declared areas.

The Karen Human Rights Group reports that airstrikes are part of a broader attack on civilians in the country. Human rights groups and the UN found that the military disproportionately targets civilians with not only bombs but also mass executions of detained people and large-scale burning of homes.

Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric said these strikes are part of a pattern of attacks across the country.

“There are frequent reports of people being killed, injured or displaced by violence—as well as increasing attacks on civilian infrastructure,” he said at a July 16 press briefing.

Recent airstrikes, such as a July 11 strike on a monastery in Lin Ta Lu village, which killed 23 and injured 30, have redrawn attention to the country’s ongoing conflict. The Lin Ta Lu attack came weeks after the military began an offensive to reclaim territories controlled by resistance groups.

Public and religious sites have become targets. Myanmar Witness, a Centre for Information Resilience project investigating human rights in Myanmar, reported a trend of military operations hitting large civilian gatherings, with 109 cases of airstrikes damaging religious sites in 2024. A wedding held in a monastery in Magway Region was bombed on Feb. 25 after an invitation was posted on social media. They estimate that 11 people were killed.

“These trends highlight that religious and cultural sites are becoming increasingly at risk of complete destruction as a result of internal conflict in the country,” Myanmar Witness reported.

Dozens of schools have also been attacked, resulting in deaths and injuries of children. Many children have stopped attending school due to safety concerns. An aerial attack on a school in Oe Htein Kwin village in the Sagaing region on May 12 killed around 20 students and wounded dozens.

A Karen Education and Culture Department (KECD) school principal told the Karen Human Rights Group that all four of the school’s buildings were destroyed by bombs in a March 23, 2024 airstrike in a village in Doo Tha Htoo District. The cost of rebuilding is expensive, and they did not know whether anyone would be able to help rebuild it.

“I am sad to see the destruction of my school and worry that children will not be able to go to school…” the principal said. “I do not know how to describe my feelings of extreme fear. My whole heart breaks when I see the destroyed school. I cannot do anything now.”

Yadanar Maung, spokesperson for Justice For Myanmar, an activist group, accused international governments and corporations that fund, arm and train the Tatmadaw of empowering the military’s violent actions.

“The Myanmar military’s escalating violence against civilians, including through the intensification of airstrikes that target children, is not happening in a vacuum,” Maung told IPS.

Maung praised Airbus’ recent divestment from AviChina Industry & Technology Company Limited due to its links to the violence in Myanmar.

“Others must follow,” Maung said. “Governments must also act with stronger targeted sanctions on the military, its businesses, cronies and partners.”

The UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar is investigating whether the Tatmadaw’s actions can be classified as crimes against humanity. The Mechanism called for information on aerial attacks for its investigation. They are prioritizing investigating attacks on children.

“Airstrikes that are indiscriminate or which target civilians may be war crimes or crimes against humanity,” the Mechanism wrote.

The airstrikes make it difficult for the UN to deliver humanitarian assistance to people in need. Currently, one in three people in Myanmar face acute hunger, according to Dujarric.

“We urgently, and once again, call on all parties to respect human rights and international humanitarian law,” he said.

Myanmar receives far less attention than other regions undergoing conflict and distress. Without the same level of attention, the war cannot end and the humanitarian situation will not be alleviated. Myanmar Witness said that it is important to continue reporting on the situation in Myanmar so as to keep other nations updated. They said the situation is complex and can be difficult for foreigners to understand.

“The international community isn’t as aware of this continuing internal conflict due to other important conflicts taking media attention, particularly in Western news outlets,” Myanmar Witness wrote to IPS. “It is important to continuously push to get news about Myanmar out to the international community as much as we can.”

 

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Elders Advisory Group - Juan Manuel Santos, Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein, and Mary Robinson. Credit: Naureen Hossain/IPS

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 29 2025 (IPS)

Dignitaries across the international community have convened in New York to promote the two-State Solution – the coexistence of Israel and Palestine as sovereign states – as the only path forward to shared sustainable peace in the Middle East. Former and current leaders from 145 countries and independent groups will speak at the United Nations to demonstrate their ‘near-universal support’ and discuss the steps that need to be taken to achieve it.

The UN high-level conference on the two-state solution, which is co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, is taking place at UN Headquarters from 28-30 July. The conference includes thematic discussions on issues relating to regional security and the reconstruction of Gaza and statements from member states and regional stakeholders.

There is a shared spirit of cooperation and consensus from the participating member states to move forward with the two-state solution, according to representatives of The Elders. Founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007, The Elders are an independent advisory group of global leaders working towards peace, justice and a sustainable future.

Members from the group, including its current chair and former president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, spoke to the press on Monday afternoon on this “interesting and exceptional moment for the UN, for the Middle East, for the world,” as Santos remarked.

“The position that The Elders have taken has, in a way, generated some kind of reaction, especially from the [present] Israeli government. That has made our task a bit more difficult, but we persevere,” said Santos. “My own experience is that every conflict sooner or later has a resolution.” He further noted that the “circumstances may be right” to negotiate the two-state solution in light of the urgency of the “humanitarian tragedy” unfolding in Gaza and expressed his hope that this would “facilitate a process” for long-term peace and stability in the Middle East.

“It’s a moment built on when we can hopefully see a real commitment to the two-state solution in practical, real terms,” said Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and former chair of The Elders. Robinson noted the opportunity this would present going into the UN General Assembly in September.

At present, more than 59,000 deaths have been reported in Gaza since October 2023. In recent weeks, reports from the UN and humanitarian aid partners have warned of mass starvation and acute malnutrition in Gaza, where at least 74 people have died due to malnutrition and one in five children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Within Israel and Palestine, there are also advocates for the two-state solution, and they already have their own approach to this, according to Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He referred to one initiative led by Israeli and Palestinian advocates calling for a “Two States, One Homeland” framework, which includes an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian states, careful negotiation over territorial adjustments instead, and the freedom of movement and residence for all Israelis and Palestinians.

“I think the very strength of it is that it is being driven by Israelis and Palestinians themselves, activists and lawyers,” said Al-Hussein. “We thought that it’s important that the conference understand the creative thinking that’s going on outside the UN.”

“We want to see a two-state solution as an end goal but understand it in practical terms of how to actually take place, so we gave expression to that.”

Both Israel and the United States have boycotted the conference, citing reasons relating to the ongoing hostage situation in Gaza and ceasefire negotiations stalling due to Hamas’ refusal to cooperate.

There was significant pressure to finally move forward on this matter. “You know, there is a real sense of urgency,” Robinson said regarding the international community’s response. “And I think that can’t be ignored, even by a powerful United States supporting Israel, the current Israeli government. And of course, they particularly can’t ignore the widespread sense now of an unfolding genocide.”

Robinson further suggested that the U.S. could exert its influence over Israel to pull back from the war and end the mass starvation campaign, which runs the risk of straining relations between the historic allies if Israel does not listen to the U.S.’s demands, and the “realization that the U.S. is becoming complicit in a genocide.”

Apart from the U.S., other players in the geopolitical landscape, notably members of the European Union (EU), could take clear measures to halt the fighting. Robinson reported that countries responsible for arms transfers, such as the United Kingdom and France, could halt their operations and prevent them from getting into the hands of Hamas or Israeli military forces. Further sanctions could be imposed on Israeli leaders responsible for the “systemic violations” and illegal settlements, as well as a review of their trade agreements with Israel.

Hamas’ involvement in negotiations has also been a point of debate, with France calling for their demilitarization. Santos said that the “cause that moved Hamas” could become “obsolete” once an agreement is reached. He further remarked that Hamas would need to “evolve” into a force that could participate in the Palestinian structure and would allow them to be part of the solution without being a “spoiler or disruptive force.”

Santos also remarked, “Hamas is more of a cause. For every militant that is killed, two more are born.”

In reference to the “strategic mistake” Israel made in declaring its intention to destroy the group. In their efforts to do so and project a certain image, the war in Gaza that has raged on for nearly two years will likely cost Israel and its standing with its own people, the international Jewish community, and even the United States. This could pressure Israel into joining negotiations.

Further support for the two-state solution could also be cemented as more countries recognize the state of Palestine. Prior to the conference, President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would officially recognize the state of Palestine in September during the UN General Assembly. This is significant because, as Robinson noted, it is the first member of the Group of 7 to recognize Palestinian statehood. This has the potential to “create much more momentum” should other EU members make the same move.

The Elders were consistent in their hope for the enthusiasm and global consensus for the two-state solution displayed so far during this conference. How far these negotiations can proceed after this week would also be dependent on the willing participation of all parties and states. In this case, the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza underpins this conference with a sense of urgency to take action sooner rather than later, however unlikely it seems under the current circumstances.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Activists march in the street of Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo to demand climate justice and an end to oil exploration in the Virunga National Park. Credit: MNKF Creatives

By Umar Manzoor Shah
SRINAGAR, India & KINSHASA, DRC, Jul 29 2025 (IPS)

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) stands on the precipice of a profound environmental and social crisis, as the government prepares to auction 55 new oil blocks that cover more than half the country’s landmass.

Touted as a pathway to economic growth, the move has triggered fierce backlash from scientists, civil society groups, Indigenous leaders, and international conservationists, who warn that the proposed fossil fuel expansion threatens some of the most ecologically and culturally significant landscapes on Earth.

According to a new report by Earth Insight and its partners, titled “Forests to Frontlines: Oil Expansion Threats in the DRC,” the 2025 licensing round—covering a staggering 124 million hectares—poses catastrophic risks to biodiversity, climate stability, Indigenous rights, and global environmental commitments.

The DRC is home to the world’s second-largest rainforest and the largest tropical peatland complex, known as the Cuvette Centrale. These ecosystems are not just national treasures—they are global climate regulators, storing billions of tonnes of carbon and sustaining rainfall patterns across Africa. But with 66.8 million hectares of intact forest—64% of the country’s remaining wilderness—now within the new oil block boundaries, experts fear the irreversible collapse of one of Earth’s last ecological strongholds.

“The Congo Basin is nearing an ecological tipping point. Further fragmentation could flip its forests from carbon sinks to carbon sources, triggering climate feedback loops with devastating planetary consequences,” the report warns.

Oil Blocks vs. Protected Areas

While the DRC government claims to have spared high-profile protected zones like Virunga National Park from direct overlap with oil blocks, the report reveals that this is a smokescreen. Roughly 8.3 million hectares of protected areas and 8.6 million hectares of Key Biodiversity Areas are still overlapped by the new blocks.

What’s more, even oil blocks positioned just outside protected zones can cause significant harm. Road construction, pipeline development, and increased human encroachment lead to deforestation, habitat fragmentation, and growing tensions between local communities and conservation authorities.

The report underscores that environmental protection on paper means little if the surrounding buffer zones are sacrificed to industrial expansion.

The Green Corridor Betrayed

In January 2025, the DRC government declared the establishment of the Kivu–Kinshasa Green Corridor, an ambitious conservation initiative spanning 540,000 km²—an area the size of France. It was praised as a groundbreaking step toward landscape-scale conservation and sustainable development.

Just months later, however, 72% of this same corridor has been overlapped by newly designated oil blocks.

“The overlap between oil blocks and the Green Corridor undermines the very ecosystems the project was designed to protect. This is a betrayal of community rights, climate action, and biodiversity promises,” Emmanuel Musuyu, Executive Director of CORAP said.

Moreover, local communities whose lands fall within the corridor were not properly consulted. Now, they face the double threat of exclusion under conservation frameworks and degradation from extractive industry—without benefiting from either.

Peatlands in Peril

Perhaps the most dire warning in the report concerns the Cuvette Centrale, the largest tropical peatland on Earth. This region stores an estimated 30 gigatons of carbon—roughly equivalent to global emissions over three years.

The new oil blocks span nearly the entire DRC portion of these peatlands, putting them at imminent risk of degradation. Activities such as drilling, road-building, and seismic testing could drain the wetlands, exposing carbon-rich peat to oxygen and unleashing vast quantities of CO₂ and methane into the atmosphere.

“Even small disturbances in peatlands can trigger runaway emissions. If degraded, they are almost impossible to restore within human timescales,” reads the report.

The Cuvette Centrale is a globally irreplaceable carbon sink. To drill there would not just be short-sighted—it would be a global catastrophe.

“Peatlands are extremely important ecosystems, and the Cuvette Centrale peatlands represent one of the largest terrestrial carbon sinks on the planet. More safeguards need to be established to ensure the integrity of this vital ecosystem is maintained and industrial activities are limited,” Tyson Miller, Executive Director for Earth Insight, who is also one of the report authors, told IPS News.

The Human Cost: 39 Million Lives at Risk

Beyond ecosystems, the oil expansion endangers people—millions of them. The report estimates that 39 million people, nearly half the DRC’s population, live within the newly auctioned oil blocks. These communities rely on forests, rivers, and lands for their survival, livelihoods, and cultural identity.

Especially vulnerable are community forests, legally recognised lands governed by local populations. As of mid-2025, over 4 million hectares of such forests exist—and 63% now fall within oil block boundaries.

These forests represent not just environmental assets but legal victories and instruments of self-determination. Their incursion by oil development violates both national laws and international protections, including the principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).

Contrary to promises of economic upliftment, past oil projects have shown that wealth rarely trickles down to local communities. Instead, they inherit contaminated water, degraded lands, and shattered livelihoods.

“We estimated the number of people living within the boundaries of the newly proposed oil blocks using 2020 UN adjusted constrained population estimate raster data (100m resolution) from WorldPop, a research program based at the University of Southampton. This data uses remotely sensed data to estimate the number of people living in each pixel, which we in turn use to calculate the population under threat. Outdated and missing census data, especially in rural areas, require that we use modelled population datasets,” Miller told IPS News.

Muanda: A Grim Glimpse of the Future

The coastal town of Muanda, home to the DRC’s only active oil operations, serves as a cautionary tale. Despite decades of extraction, Muanda remains among the country’s poorest regions. Locals suffer from polluted mangroves, shrinking fish stocks, and chronic illnesses—while oil revenues enrich foreign companies and Congolese elites.

“Muanda is the least developed oil town in the world. We breathe poisoned air, our natural livelihoods are gone, and there’s no health care to treat our illnesses,” said Alphonse Khonde, a resident.

The DRC now risks exporting this failed model across half its territory.

Civil Society Resists

Congolese civil society is not staying silent. In June 2025, a Week of Action saw protests, press briefings, and international advocacy from Kinshasa to London. At the forefront is the Our Land Without Oil coalition—a powerful alliance of grassroots organisations, Indigenous networks, and legal advocates.

Their message is resolute: “This government cannot claim to be a climate leader while auctioning off our forests and futures. We have a choice: dig our grave with oil or build a livable, dignified, and sovereign future,” said Pascal Mirindi, Campaign Coordinator.

The report also contains several urgent recommendations: cancel the 2025 oil licensing round and halt future hydrocarbon expansion; protect the Cuvette Centrale as a non-negotiable conservation priority; revoke oil blocks within the Green Corridor to honour its original vision; uphold Indigenous and community rights by ensuring free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) and legal land recognition; invest in low-carbon development, including renewables and sustainable mineral extraction; and align international finance with climate goals rather than fossil fuel interests.

The Road Ahead

As the world races to combat climate change, the DRC faces a critical decision. Will it become a model of green leadership or fall into the familiar trap of extractive exploitation? The stakes couldn’t be higher—not just for the Congolese people, but for the planet.

The Congo Basin’s fate is the Earth’s fate. What happens next in the DRC will echo for generations.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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After Nigeria sealed their 10th African title, several issues need to be addressed to boost women's football on the continent.

After Nigeria sealed their 10th African title, several issues need to be addressed to boost women's football on the continent.

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Nadia Malyanah Azman
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jul 29 2025 (IPS)

US President Trump has successfully used tariff threats to achieve economic, political and even personal goals. These threats, reminiscent of colonialism, have secured submission and concessions.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

After hearing the 2024 US elections, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto respectfully stood up in his Jakarta office to call to congratulate the winner.

Trump bragged about his tariff offer to Indonesia in mid-July 2025, flattering its president profusely. After hesitating initially, former General Prabowo had agreed to join BRICS, despite Trump’s clear disapproval.

“I spoke to their really great president, very popular, very strong, smart. And we made the deal. We will pay no tariffs…they are giving us access to Indonesia … the other part is they are going to pay 19% and we are going to pay nothing.”

An Indian commentator noted, “Those words say it all. This deal is clearly one-sided, and it should bother the whole world.” Americans, not Indonesians, will pay tariffs on imports from Indonesia.

The US is Indonesia’s second-largest export market, importing apparel, palm oil, footwear, and cosmetics. Initially, Trump had threatened a 32% tariff on such imports.

This has been reduced to 19%, still almost four times more than last year! In 2024, Indonesian exports to the US were taxed at 5% on average. The Indonesian president has not complained but instead seemed relieved.

Nadia Malyanah Azman

Indonesia will lose not only exports, but also growth and jobs. As Trump loves to brag, he added insult to injury as he could not resist reiterating: “They will pay 19%, and we will pay nothing.”

Guaranteed sales
Indonesia will also buy $15 billion of US oil and gas, $4.5 billion of farm produce, and 50 Boeing jets. But the 2019 Lion Air plane tragedy, which the US plane manufacturer quickly blamed on Indonesian pilots, is still alive in the national memory.

Boeing’s reputation worldwide has not recovered from the investigation into the Nairobi air crash involving the same plane model, which led to its grounding.

Indonesia is among the US’s top 25 trade partners. The deal secures American access to the Indonesian market, allowing US goods to be sold tariff-free.

Last year, Indonesia shipped $28 billion worth of goods to the US. Higher tariffs are now expected to cut Indonesian exports by a quarter, GDP growth by 0.3%, and many jobs!

Other Southeast Asian lessons?
The Philippines’ Marcos II government is the most pro-US in Southeast (SE) Asia, hosting 11 American military bases.

Yet it was the only one without a US tariff offer before Secretary of State Rubio’s SE Asian visit earlier this month. The Philippines has since been offered a new US trade deal with the same 19% tariff rate despite its loyalty to Washington.

Loyal long-term support for the US, 11 military bases and serving as an additional ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’ just south of Taiwan did not secure a better trade deal for the other archipelagic nation in SE Asia.

Trump wants trade deals even more favourable to the US than existing ones. With deadlines passing, the US is expected to announce more trade deals.

The tariff threats have been more effective for Trump, thanks to decades of trade liberalisation forced on the Global South, undermining earlier import-substituting industrialisation and food security measures.

Washington has already revised earlier demands, sometimes not just once, but typically to the chagrin of US trade partners. Vietnam’s Communist Party leader was initially thought to have negotiated a better deal than other SE Asian governments.

Lessons for others?
Will the US offer to Indonesia become a template for others? Or even for countries of comparable significance in the world economy? Nobody knows Trump’s strategy, let alone how it may still change.

Perhaps it begins with the threat of high tariffs, shock and awe. Then, a less painful deal is offered, dressed up as a concession.

This may be worse than the status quo ante, but it still seems preferable to the original threat. Nations will also be required to buy US goods that may not be needed or offer the best value for money.

Thus, US offers to SE Asia are being studied worldwide for lessons on better negotiating with Washington. Meanwhile, the US refuses to negotiate collectively except with the European Union.

All over the world, policymakers will continue to debate Trump’s tariff war strategy after Monday’s agreement in Scotland, which included a 15% baseline tariff on most EU exports to the US.

The US-EU deal makes clear the West, including Europe, has never really been committed to a rules-based international order, including multilateral trade liberalisation.

As American buyers pay the tariffs, imported goods become more expensive. US trading partners will lose exports, related growth and jobs. This will mean less expansion, employment and exports worldwide, accelerating stagnation.

Meanwhile, most SE Asian governments believe they have little choice but to continue negotiating with the US, which is driving them to others willing to engage them on more favourable, if not fairer, terms.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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A woman and child walk through the heavily bombed town of Khuza’a in the Gaza Strip. Credit: UN Women/Samar Abu Elouf

By Stephanie Hodge
NEW YORK, Jul 29 2025 (IPS)

In Geneva, nearly 600 UN staff based at the UN Office there held an Extraordinary Staff Union meeting on July 24, 2025, passing a unanimous motion of no confidence in the UN80 reform initiative, the Secretary General António Guterres, and Under Secretary General Guy Ryder—with no abstentions and no dissenting voices (source).

Meanwhile, Gaza is being flattened. The war has become the deadliest ever for UN personnel: over 200 UNRWA staff have been killed since October 2023 (UNRWA). At Least 116 Staff Members of United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency Killed in 2024, Bringing Total to 263 Staff Fatalities Since War in Gaza – UN Staff Union Committee – Question of Palestine

Aid starvation is mounting. UN agencies warn Gaza faces mass starvation, with children visibly wasting away and some aid workers joining food lines themselves (Amnesty International). Reports describe scenes of “walking corpses” due to critical shortages of food, water, and medicine (The Times).

As mass starvation spreads across Gaza, our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away – Amnesty International ‘Walking corpses’ haunt Gaza streets: UN says children dying of starvation, India urges emergency relief – The Economic Times

Despite the conditions, famine has not been officially declared—due to access constraints and the politicization of humanitarian data (Associated Press). Experts say Gaza is at risk of famine but haven’t declared one. Here’s why. | AP News

Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirms collapse of health and water services, especially in Rafah (OCHA Flash Update #165). Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #165 | United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – Occupied Palestinian Territory

Enter UN80, a sweeping internal reform launched in mid 2025 to mark the UN’s 80th anniversary. Promoted under the veneer of “modernization” and “efficiency,” the plan cuts junior-level positions, consolidates decision-making in the Secretary-General’s office, and accelerates centralization—without transparent evaluation of previous reform cycles or external oversight (IPI Commentary). UN80 and the Reckoning Ahead: Can Structural Reform Deliver Real Change? – IPI Global Observatory

The UN’s own Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) warned in its 2023 report that widespread use of affiliate workers and non-staff consultants had undermined accountability. In earlier reports, the JIU criticized prior reforms for concentrating authority without improving transparency or including field voices. JIU/REP/2023/8

This is not a system in crisis—it’s a system functioning as designed: to protect reputation, manage political risk, and suppress the dissent of its own workforce. It prioritizes control over service, and branding over substance.

Meanwhile, global crises—from Ukraine to Sudan—are exposing the UN’s deepening credibility crisis. A 2022 High-Level Committee on Management (HLCM) report recognized growing internal distrust and institutional fatigue (UN CEB HLCM Report). Microsoft Word – 2211281E.docx

So, what now?

We need truth-tellers inside the system. Staff who document abuses. Analysts who refuse to whitewash data. Leaders who resist sanitizing the truth to please donors. These are the ones who can restore integrity to institutions that have lost their compass.

There is a moral precedent in the figure of Job. He did not suffer because he failed, but because he refused to lie. In the face of collapse, he remained grounded in truth. That refusal—not obedience—is what sustained him.

Not every fight is winnable. But silence?

That’s not an option.

As Martin Luther King Jr. said: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

If the UN is to survive the 21st century, it must retake its soul. That begins with truth. Not PR. Not spin. Truth that costs something.

Stephanie Hodge is an international evaluator and former UN advisor who has worked across 140 countries. She is a former staffer of UNDP 1994-1996 & 1999- 2004 and UNICEF 2008-2014. She writes on governance, multilateral reform, and climate equity.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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The uncertainty around the paused tariffs has led to massive layoffs in Lesotho's textile industry.

The uncertainty around the paused tariffs has led to massive layoffs in Lesotho's textile industry.

Demonstration against Trump-era policies in Seattle, May 1, 2025. Credit: Peter Constantini

By Peter Costantini
SEATTLE, USA, Jul 28 2025 (IPS)

President Donald Trump reportedly wants to add his own head to Mount Rushmore National Memorial. But the National Park Service says there’s no room next to the four current presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. [Branch & White 6/27/2025] Here’s an innovative proposal for how to immortalize him right there in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

On the backside of the same rocky bluff where the monument is located, the President will unveil a full-body statue of himself. His combover is made of gold-plated carbon fiber that scintillates in the breeze. He bestrides an imposing masonry wall fronted by a moat filled with alligators and poisonous snakes, an idea that he purportedly floated during his first term. [Shear & Davis 10/2/2019]

The statue is as dynamic as its subject. Starting at dawn, Trump’s nose gradually grows out all day into a long, Pinocchio-like proboscis.

The soundtrack features the greatest hits from the President’s vast playlist of falsehoods – the Washington Post counted 30,573 false or misleading claims over his first term, around 20 per day. [Kessler et al 1/24/2021]. And veteran White House correspondent Peter Baker has analyzed them extensively in the New York Times. [Baker 2/23/2025] The nose grows proportionately to the magnitude and creativity of each whopper. Then it retracts at night.

The grand finale comes at sundown, when the President’s pants suddenly catch fire. In honor of his “Drill, Baby, Drill” energy policy, we’re not talking an LED or laser light show here. This has got to be something with a respectable carbon footprint, like methane. The blaze illuminates the whole monument and can be seen from outer space.

At this point, you may be wondering whether the President would embrace this sort of monument to his mendacity. Well, don’t underestimate his passion for inspired grifting (for example, see his pardon of Steve Bannon). [Costantini 10/4/2021]

As one pundit put it: “His superpower is his shamelessness.” [The 11th Hour 5/22/2025] The President once notoriously joked that “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” [Dwyer 1/23/2016]

The Supreme Court later backed his boast with a king-size get-our-of-jail-free card in Trump v. United States, in which it ruled that presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for official acts taken while in office. [Congressional Research Office 7/5/2024]

Why would he not take equal pride in his ability to pull the most brazen prevarications out of his ample posterior and watch some of his base worship them as gospel, while others just revel in “owning the libs”.

Don’t miss the other entertaining features. Every couple of hours during the day, one of Trump’s arms extends out, the palm of his massive hand facing upward. A drone tricked out as a model of his new Air Force One 747 lands on it like a falcon, accompanied by fireworks and martial music. Look! The plane has a new name emblazoned on it: “The Emperor of Emoluments”!

At alternate hours, Trump’s other arm rises up with the palm facing down, sporting a gold-plated ring with giant zirconium jewels. Actors impersonating public figures approach, kiss the ring, and tell him their troubles.

He agrees to help, adding: “I’d like you to do me a favor, though.” Somber music from The Godfather amps up the gravitas. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, visitors can ask for pardons and other favors on a cell-phone app. An AI Trump entity reads the petitions and responds with appropriate noblesse oblige or scorn. But if he asks if you’re a public employee, beware: if you say “Yes”, his favorite reply is “You’re fired.”

Below the statue, a small herd of human heads on toad bodies greets visitors. These are talking robots representing Trump’s toadies: cabinet members, advisors, political allies, business partners, even tech bros. They sing extravagant praises of the President with quotes from his North Korea-style cabinet meetings. One group asks guests to sign a petition to award the President the Nobel Peace Prize. [CNN 7/7/2025]

On some evenings the lighting changes, and Trump’s statue is costumed as Czar Donald the Impaler. If you’re very lucky, you may catch a glimpse of a shadowy Stephen Miller whispering in his ear, cosplaying in monk drag as his Mini-Rasputin. He’s just a hologram, too.

However, someone did recruit a special force of live ICE agents who roam the monument in plain-clothes packs. As long as you don’t “look foreign”, you have nothing to fear from them. If you do “look foreign”, you could win an all-expenses-paid open-ended vacation to El Salvador or South Sudan.

Looking for fun for the kids? Saddle up for an immigration rodeo. Holograms of immigrant families climb over the wall and try to cross the moat.

Players mounted on robot horses can “shoot them in the legs” with laser tags, as Trump suggested, and then herd them into two virtual concentration camps bristling with razor wire: one for kids, one for parents. [Shear & Davis 10/2/2019]

The more families you separate, the more points you earn. You can also bump your score up by denying the captives water or medical care. Then you can use your accumulated points to score Trump merch like golden watches, golden sneakers, and Holy Bibles.

But the fun is not just for kids. For adult fans of Trumponomics, there’s the Tariff Shoot. Who knew that tariffs are not really economic policies? As Trump has demonstrated, they are weapons you can use to blast countries you just don’t like.

For example, even though virtually no fentanyl enters the U.S. through Canada, the Big Guy has imposed crippling tariffs on our northern neighbor until they end all fentanyl smuggling. [Zahn 7/11/2025] The Tariff Shoot turns this boring trade tool into a dope game.

You shoot virtual tariff arrows from an electronic bow at a rotating holographic globe. When you hit a country, your game controller shows what goods you can put tariffs on and how much you can raise prices. You can also loot mineral rights and expropriate territory for your own private virtual country.

If you bankrupt a country, you can acquire outright ownership. Then at the end, you receive your winnings in Trump-backed cryptocurrency tokens. Best of all, if you hit the capital of a country, say Ottawa or Mexico City, you win a kewpie doll of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney or Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

And then there are other kinds of fun after the sun goes down. Away from the plebeian hurly-burly, there’s a secret part of the Trump monument open only to very rich men. It’s concealed behind a stone door located somewhere on a neighboring bluff. You have to buy the GPS coordinates and entry codes for a price starting well over seven figures.

And security? Let’s just say word on the Dark Web is that Erik Prince’s mercenaries enforce the non-disclosure agreement. Once you find it and enter the codes, the hidden door opens briefly and then slams shut behind you with a metallic clang. You’ve just gained entry into a virtual re-creation of Jeffrey Epstein’s private island. We’ll leave the rest to your imagination. But hey, big spender, not to worry. Counsel advises that it is not legally possible for holograms to be underage.

As magnificent as it will be, the Trump Monument at Mount Rushmore is just the opening play. It will serve as the spearhead of a much broader blitzkrieg to disrupt Big Park. A revamped DOGE will be called in to root out inefficiencies and corruption from national parks and monuments and finally to sell them off to private equity.

Plans are hatching to redevelop the tired old presidential faces. Move over, El Capitan: imagine rock climbing up Honest Abe’s nose. Join the kids hurtling down the bomb water slide in the gap between OG Washington and TJeff. And Trump’s real estate hounds are sniffing out a site to build a 50-story hotel on top of one of the surrounding bluffs.

Picture the majestic Trump Golden Calf Resort and Casino, featuring crossover themes from the Old West and the Old Testament. It will enforce the signature Trump policy of pay-to-play: if you want access to the premium features of the Trump Monument, why wouldn’t you want to stay at the premium lodging on-site?

And did someone mention links? If you’re looking for Trump-class golfing during your stay, plans are afoot to turn a nearby patch of the Black Hills into valleys full of putting greens.

Some may call it tacky totalitarianism, but the markets are jonesing at the prospect of an Orlando of the Prairies.

A final word to the wise: President Trump will decree that birthright citizenship does not apply on the grounds of his national monument. So don’t forget to bring birth certificates for the whole family. And for their moms.

 

See also

Peter Baker. “Trump Uses Lies to Lay the Groundwork for Radical Change”. New York Times, February 23, 2025.
https://nytimes.com/2025/02/23/us/politics/trump-alternative-reality.html

Peter Baker. “Trump’s Wild Claims, Conspiracies and Falsehoods Redefine Presidential Bounds”. November 3, 2024.
https://nytimes.com/2025/02/23/us/politics/trump-alternative-reality.html

Congressional Research Office. “Presidential Immunity from Criminal Prosecution in Trump v. United States”. Washington, DC: July 5, 2024.
https://congress.gov/crs_external_products/LSB/PDF/LSB11194/LSB11194.2.pdf

Peter Costantini. “The Roadrunner and the Wall”. Ciudad de México: Americas Migration, October 4, 2021.
https://americasmigration.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-roadrunner-and-wall.html

John Branch & Jeremy White. “Room for One More on Mount Rushmore? (The President Wants to Know.)”. New York Times, June 27, 2025.
https://nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/27/us/mount-rushmore-trump.html

CNN. “’It’s a great honor’: Trump receives Nobel Peace Prize nomination from Netanyahu”. CNN Politics, July 7, 2025.
https://cnn.com/2025/07/07/politics/video/trump-netanyahu-nobel-nomination-letter-digvid

Colin Dwyer. “Donald Trump: ‘I Could … Shoot Somebody, And I Wouldn’t Lose Any Voters’”. National Public Radio, The Two-Way, January 23, 2016.
https://npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/23/464129029/donald-trump-i-could-shoot-somebody-and-i-wouldnt-lose-any-voters

Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo & Meg Kelly. “Trump’s false or misleading claims total 30,573 over 4 years”. Washington Post, January 24, 2021.
https://washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-false-or-misleading-claims-total-30573-over-four-years

Michael D. Shear & Julie Hirschfeld Davis. “Shoot Migrants Legs, Build Alligator Moat: Behind Trumps Ideas for Border”. New York Times, October 2, 2019.
https://nytimes.com/2019/10/01/us/politics/trump-border-wars.html

The 11th Hour. “’His superpower is his shamelessness’: A look at Trump’s crypto dinner” (interview with Salman Rushdie). MSNBC, May 22, 2025.
https://msnbc.com/11th-hour/watch/-his-superpower-is-his-shamelessness-a-look-at-trump-s-crypto-dinner-240173637966

Max Zahn. “What to know about Trump’s new tariffs on Canada”. ABC News, July 11, 2025.
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/trumps-new-tariffs-canada/story?id=123678621

 

They were put to death despite ransoms being paid for their release, a local official told the BBC.

A Sudanese mother and her child at a shelter in Tawila, North Darfur. Credit: UNICEF/Mohammed Jamal

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 28 2025 (IPS)

Earlier this month, Sudanese civilians began facing a considerable escalation of hostilities, with the most recent attacks from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) claiming dozens of lives. Amid a rapidly growing scale of needs and an overwhelming lack of funding, the United Nations (UN) and its partners have struggled to deliver adequate amounts of humanitarian aid.

On July 23, the RSF coordinated an attack on the Brima Rashid area in West Kordofan State, with combatants entering on assault vehicles and indiscriminately firing at homes and a market. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), this attack killed over 30 people and severely injured 40 others, with a significant amount of these casualties being women and young children.

“Medical sources say many of the wounded need urgent surgical care,” said Farhan Haq, the UN Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General at a press briefing. “OCHA stresses that events in Brima Rashid underscore the growing risks facing civilians in the Kordofan region and the urgent need for a cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians, and safe, sustained access to humanitarian assistance and services.”

This is just the latest in a series of attacks that have marked a sharp rise in violence across the Kordofan and North Darfur regions. Between July 10 and 13, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a series of attacks on North Kordofan’s Bara locality. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) estimates that these attacks resulted in 60 civilian deaths, while figures from independent civil society groups estimate up to 300 deaths.

Concurrently, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) launched a series of attacks on the Al Fula and Abu Zabad villages in West Kordofan State, including an airstrike on a school that was being used as a makeshift displacement shelter, killing over 20 people. On July 17, the SAF also targeted a family in an airstrike in Bara, killing at least 11 civilians. Additional attacks and civilian casualties were recorded in El Fasher and the Abu Shouk camp.

“An escalation of hostilities in North Darfur and Kordofan will only further aggravate the already severe risks to civilians and the dire humanitarian situation in a conflict that has already wrought untold suffering on the Sudanese people,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. “I urge those with influence to act to prevent such an escalation, and to ensure that both parties uphold their obligations under international law, including on the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure.”

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), as of July 14 there have been over 3,400 internal displacements as a result of the recent attacks in North Kordofan. These numbers were further inflamed by a period of heavy rain and flooding from July 14 and 15, resulting in 400 additional displacements.

The majority of these displaced individuals are currently residing with host communities and face a dire lack of access to basic services, such as food, water, shelter, and healthcare. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that approximately 30 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance and protection, which is roughly half of Sudan’s population.

Conditions are particularly dire in the Tawila locality of North Darfur, which currently hosts over 560,000 internally displaced civilians. OCHA’s partners report that a significant amount of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) needs are not being met, as there is a critically low ratio of one latrine for every 150 people. Humanitarian experts have expressed concern due to the rising cases of cholera in Tawila. According to figures from Sudan’s Health Ministry, there have been over 1,300 cases of cholera and 18 related deaths recorded across 35 localities, with 519 of these cases being recorded in Tawila alone.

Additionally, Sudan’s hunger crisis has taken a considerable turn for the worse in recent weeks, with food prices having skyrocketed immensely. According to OCHA, South Darfur had been hit particularly hard, with flooding cutting off critical supply routes from Chad and the north of Sudan. Over the course of a month, the price of wheat has risen by 31 percent and the price of sugar has risen by 21 percent, pushing these essential items out of reach for thousands.

Figures from the World Food Programme (WFP) show that famine has been confirmed in 10 states across Sudan, with nearly half of the population facing extreme levels of hunger. OCHA projects that women are disproportionately impacted by the hunger crisis, with rates of food insecurity among female-headed households nearly doubling from 14 percent in 2024 to 26 percent in 2025.

The persistence of widespread hunger and disease across Sudan is a testament to Sudan’s fragile healthcare system. According to OCHA, heightened insecurity has resulted in the closures of over 32 health facilities in Sudan. The centers that are still functional face a critical shortage of essential supplies such as vaccines, medication, and surgical equipment. It is estimated that thousands lack access to life-saving care.

On July 25, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and IOM released a joint report that analyzed the conditions facing Sudanese refugees who had returned home after fleeing to Egypt and South Sudan. According to the report, roughly 320,000 refugees had returned to Sudan throughout the past year, with many struggling to access basic services .

“Without urgent action, people will be coming back to cities that are in ruins,” said Abdallah Al Dardari, Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). “We are in a race against time to clear the rubble and provide water, power and healthcare.”

The report underscores the vast array of dangers that await Sudanese returnees, including the risk of injury or death from unexploded ordnance, high rates of gender-based and sexual violence toward women and girls, as well as a lack of psychosocial support services for traumatized individuals.

The UN and its partners remain hopeful that the current influx of returnees is an indication of stabilization in Sudan. “Those heading home are not passive survivors. They are vital to Sudan’s recovery,” said Othman Belbeisi, IOM Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “Yes, the humanitarian situation is dire, but with the right support, returnees can revive local economies, restore community life and foster hope where it’s needed most”.

Despite this, increased funding for humanitarian affairs and a sustainable end to hostilities is the only way to ensure lasting peace and stability in Sudan. The UN projects that approximately USD 4.2 billion dollars is needed to keep up aid operations in Sudan for the next year. However, only 23 percent of the required funds have been met, indicating that services may need to be scaled back next year.

“More than evidence of people’s desire to return to their homeland, these returns are a desperate call for an end to the war so that people can come back and rebuild their lives,” said Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Sudan crisis, shortly after returning from Khartoum and Wadi Halfa at the border with Egypt. “Not only do they mark a hopeful but fragile shift, they also indicate already stretched host countries under increasing strain. We urge stronger international solidarity with the Sudanese people uprooted by this horrifying war and with the countries that have opened their doors to them.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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